English Retro-Chic on Moscow Stage

Elena Pochetova

Special guest of the Reconstruction Fashion Exhibition opening was PETER JENSEN, a Danish born, London-based designer who presented this latest "THELMA" A/W 2012-13 collection at the opening ceremony.

http://nl.media.rbth.ru/all/2012/0406/galleries/15680/1.jpg Special guest of the Reconstruction Fashion Exhibition opening was PETER JENSEN, a Danish born, London-based designer who presented this latest "THELMA" A/W 2012-13 collection at the opening ceremony. Elena Pochetova

http://nl.media.rbth.ru/all/2012/0406/galleries/15680/2.jpg Backstage of PETER JENSEN's display. Elena Pochetova

http://nl.media.rbth.ru/all/2012/0406/galleries/15680/3.jpg Backstage of PETER JENSEN's display. Elena Pochetova

http://nl.media.rbth.ru/all/2012/0406/galleries/15680/4.jpg “The work on display in Reconstruction is inspired by a trip I took to Greenland to research my Aunt Jytte who owned a cab company there and was fascinated by 1960s fashion" - PETER JENSEN. Elena Pochetova

http://nl.media.rbth.ru/all/2012/0406/galleries/15680/5.jpg "I hope my work will encourage young fashion designers in Kazakhstan and the other countries to which this exhibition will travel to look at their own heritage and environment and take inspiration from them" - PETER JENSEN. Elena Pochetova

http://nl.media.rbth.ru/all/2012/0406/galleries/15680/6.jpg Is the coolest place on earth, finally, a kitchen on Columbia Road, where Thelma Speirs plays Scrabble and hangs out with her cats, Captain and Skipper? Elena Pochetova

http://nl.media.rbth.ru/all/2012/0406/galleries/15680/7.jpg Peter Jensen seems to think so. His muses have included the world-famous (Jodie Foster, Meryl Streep) and the personal (his aunt Jytte). Elena Pochetova

http://nl.media.rbth.ru/all/2012/0406/galleries/15680/8.jpg None, however, have been closer to him than friend and collaborator, Thelma Speirs, who, with Paul Bernstock, has been dressing the heads of the rich, famous and fashionable for thirty years. Elena Pochetova

http://nl.media.rbth.ru/all/2012/0406/galleries/15680/9.jpg "I think being chic is very powerful", Thelma says, "but you have to be daring too. That's why I like Peter's clothes." Elena Pochetova

http://nl.media.rbth.ru/all/2012/0406/galleries/15680/10.jpg Jensen and Speirs certainly share a taste for twisted normalcy, for subverting the everyday. Elena Pochetova

http://nl.media.rbth.ru/all/2012/0406/galleries/15680/11.jpg With her mink coat thrown over jeans and a sweater, Speirs could be the perfect bourgeoise, were it not for the headphones over her trademark waves of grey hair. Elena Pochetova

http://nl.media.rbth.ru/all/2012/0406/galleries/15680/12.jpg Though her favourite pastimes involve bridge and Radio 4, this is a woman who posed naked for Ponystep magazine just last year. Elena Pochetova

http://nl.media.rbth.ru/all/2012/0406/galleries/15680/13.jpg "I wanted to be a dressage horse rider when I was young," says Speirs, "but then I went to art school and thought, wow. Fashion." Elena Pochetova

http://nl.media.rbth.ru/all/2012/0406/galleries/15680/14.jpg Jensen translates this attitude into a collection of desirable and rather proper silhouettes, all subtly and playfully subverted. Elena Pochetova

http://nl.media.rbth.ru/all/2012/0406/galleries/15680/15.jpg After the display at ARTPLAY Design Centre in Moscow. Elena Pochetova

http://nl.media.rbth.ru/all/2012/0406/galleries/15680/16.jpg PETER JENSEN Elena Pochetova

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